Lives of Saints Volume 30: Saint Athanasius the Great Patriarch of Alexandria (Paperback) - by Holy Dormition Sisterhood

This detailed life of Saint Athanasius shows what persecutions a true hierarch endures in his fight against heresy. This holy hierarch was so hated and persecuted by the heretical Arians that he spent most of his 45 years as a bishop in exile, in hiding, and being subjected to the most outrageous slanders. It is said that because of his stance for the truth, the whole Byzantine Empire was disturbed. The life of Saint Athanasius is very important for the Orthodox Christian of today; we live in a time when heresy in the Church has spread to such a high level that we are losing the understanding of what a true bishop should be. Instead, we see humanism and compromise among hierarchs in matters of the Faith. ♦ Saint Anatolius the Elder was one of the great spiritual fathers of the Optina monastery in Russia. The successor in Eldership to the great Saint Ambrose, he was the loving spiritual father of a multitude of nuns, to whom he emphasised the importance of saying the Jesus Prayer and of maintaining good order in church.

♦ Saints Marana & Kyra were the daughters of a rich and famous family. These holy women preferred to work secretly for Christ in prayer, fasting, and silence, rather than to inherit the riches of this vain world.

♦ Saint Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, was renowned for his extraordinary generosity, frequently giving away everything he owned to the poor and needy. When a poor widow asked Saint Paulinus for money to ransom her only son, who had been taken captive, having no money to give, he offered to be sold into slavery in the son’s place. Becoming a slave, he was able to free many from slavery, imitating the Lord Christ, Who had assumed the form of a servant and delivered the human race from slavery to the devil.

80 pages.